De vere 504 - 2 questions

I have just bought an early De Vere 504 and have 2 questions someone might be able to help with.

1)The stabilised power supply is not working but since I will only ever use the enlarger for black and white I am thinking I can just run the fan directly from the mains and the bulb from a simple 24v lighting transformer. Can anyone see a problem with this?

2)I should like to give the colour filters a good clean and I found a thread somewhere which said they can be removed from the head 'very easily'. Well it's not immediately obvious to me! Can anyone help?

Bill

The fans on my 5108 have had an additional controller added to allow them to run for a period of time after the exposure, to help the bulbs cool down, I can vary the time. So I can't see a problem running the fan continuously, just double check it's voltage.

I have a heavy duty transformer that was used for spotlights and have kept it as a backup, it would be fine for B&W but not stabilised enough for colour.

Heads differ so I can't tell you how to get at your filters but it's easy on my 10x8.

Ian

I've got a 504 with the dichromat IV head and have used a couple of the other heads. Which head have you got?

Unless there has been a fire in the head it is unlikely cleaning the filters will do much but put the filters at risk for breakage; proceed with caution.

A simple 24v transformer will work fine, but one rated at 250w can be expensive. Some switching power supplies can cost less.

Thanks, everyone. Jim - I can't find a model number on the head but it's cream and brown in colour and the filter dials are mounted edgeways towards the front. If the enlarger is the same age as the power supply it dates from 1991.

Since posting I have now got the power supply working, so for now the lighting transformer is Plan B!

Bill